All Except One
by EllieRose101
Summary: A shock revelation threatens to tear the Scooby Gang apart, but will it bring Spike and Buffy together in the long run? (Alternative Season Seven, without the First Evil and Potential Slayers plot line.)
1. Chapter One

Chapter One

"Well, I think it's a bad omen. I mean, it must be, right? Just sitting there, directly on top of the Hellmouth. Maybe you should just stay home."

Dawn rolled her eyes at her sister. "Buffy, I'll be fine. It's just High School."

"Even regular High Schools can be dangerous," Buffy pointed out. "Drugs, boys, bullying!"

Before the Slayer got even more worked up, Dawn tried to bring some levity back to the conversation. "I promise I won't bully any drugged-up boys."

Buffy pouted, knowing she was going a little overboard. "Just call me if there's anything wiggy, alright?"

"Right," Dawn agreed, going out the front door to Xander's waiting car.

He had advice waiting for her, too.

"Stay away from boys," he said, the second she got in the passenger seat.

Again, Dawn rolled her eyes. She even added a deep sigh, for effect.

* * *

With Dawn gone for the day, Buffy set about her chores. For some reason, they seemed to take half the regular amount of time. By ten-AM she had washed the breakfast dishes, put out the trash, done the laundry, and was now trying to fight off the thoughts that inevitably came whenever she had a free moment.

True, she didn't often have free moments to begin with, but over the summer she'd actively tried to avoid them. Time to think had become time to feel guilty about things with Spike, and time to worry about where he might be, or consider what he might be doing.

Buffy shook her head. She couldn't dwell on it. She'd need to find a distraction, and quick.

When Willow had gone to England with Giles, it had pretty much been a spur of the moment thing. As such, she'd left her laptop behind, so the Slayer had been making good use of it, applying for jobs online.

But now that Willow and Giles were due back, later that day, she decided to do one last search before setting about deleting her files and putting everything back the way the Witch had left them.

Coffee in hand, Buffy had only just sat down in front of the computer when the phone rang.

Somewhat on edge, from her wayward thoughts as much as from the stress of having her little sister grow up, and worry over not being able to provide for her, let alone protect her, she jumped up immediately and grabbed the receiver.

"Dawn?"

"Gee, Buffy, have you been sitting there just waiting for me to call?"

"Dawn, what's happening? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, there's just a little, umm… I think it might be ghosts?"

"I'm coming to get you right now."

"I don't think you need to-"

Ignoring Dawn's oncoming insistence that everything would be fine, and her inevitable request not to worry, Buffy hung up and immediately dialed Xander.

"Come by my house. I need a ride."

* * *

Buffy looked about the rebuilt High School, realizing her error in cutting Dawn off earlier. The layout was completely different to the old building, and she had no idea what exactly she was looking for, or where exactly to start.

In her haste, she had forgotten to pick up her cell phone.

Instinct was leading her to the basement, however. _Doesn't everything dark and nasty live in basements?_

The Slayer had just reached for the door when the principal appeared – seemingly from nowhere – and asked her what she was doing.

"I… uh. I'm Dawn's sister," she told him. "She called to say she was having trouble. It's her first day, and all. You know how hard it can be."

"Oh, I don't know as well as you, Miss Summers," said Principal Wood.

If Buffy thought she was shocked by him knowing her name, she was utterly dumbfounded when he offered her a job.

"I've read your file, and I think you just might have the fine set of life experiences this school needs in a guidance counselor," he told her.

"No way!" said Buffy, before realizing it probably wasn't an appropriate response. She was relieved when Robin smiled and just replied, "Way. You can start on Monday," and then wandered off again.

Buffy blinked after him. Was that for real? Several months applying for jobs, and all she had to do was go visit Dawn at school? It sure sounded crazy enough to be true.

Dawn! - Buffy suddenly remembered her sister's predicament, and turned back towards the basement door. As soon as she passed through it, she was hit by a wave of familiar tinglies at the back of her neck. It actually made her gasp.

It's not possible, she thought, but still she called out his name into the darkness.

"Spike?"

"Buffy?" It was Dawn's voice that had answered her. "Buffy, I'm down here."

Following both the sound and the sensation, Buffy finally located both Spike and Dawn at the end of a long corridor.

"What's going on?"

"There was a talisman," Dawn explained. "Spike found it, and broke it. Now the ghosts are gone."

Spike wouldn't look at Buffy, and she didn't know how to react to him. In all the ways she imagined his return, this hadn't been one of them.

* * *

Anya had been having a rough day. In truth, she'd been having a series of rough days, ever since Giles had taken Willow to England and just left her to sort out the half demolished store.

Xander, having had the day off work, had agreed to come in and help her sort stock, but first Dawn needed a lift to school, and then Buffy called him away.

It was so typical, she thought, for the needs of the Hellmouth to come first, and for her to be an afterthought. She was planning to reward Xander for his help and everything. But, now that the day was wearing on and he wasn't back, Anya was certain he wouldn't have time for anything before he'd have to set out for the airport.

It just wasn't fair.

Anya grumbled to herself as she shifted the boxes, and sorted items into piles.

She was so caught up in her own thoughts that it took her a moment to realize all of the readings on the new batch of supernatural activity detectors she'd had shipped in were all pointing to danger.

* * *

The awkward silence that hung between Dawn, Buffy, and Spike was broken by Dawn's new cell ringing. After picking up and listening to a frantic Anya for a moment, Dawn passed the phone to her sister.

* * *

"Xander, how are you?" Giles enquired, now that he was fully settled into the car.

"All good, G-man. Today I'm picking up people instead of donuts, no carpentry or moving boxes required."

"Quite," said Giles, when he didn't really know how else to respond.

Willow was staying quiet, not really knowing what to say, considering the circumstances under which she'd last seen her best friend.

Once again, the tension was broken by a phone ringing.

Giles picked up, turned grey at what he heard, and then told Xander to turn around and head for the Magic Box instead of his temporary flat.

* * *

By the time Buffy had reached the Magic Box, it seemed everyone else had already arrived. Xander's car was out front, and she could hear Giles voice from inside.

Spike had also beat her there, coming up from the sewer exit at her feet as she approached the front door.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to be here," Buffy told him.

"Probably not," Spike agreed. "It's just…"

They were interrupted by Anya opening the door and dragging them both in by the arm.

"There you are! We've been waiting. There's danger, and I want it fixed before there's any more damage to my shop."

Having ignored both Giles' glares at Spike, and then the sound of him clearing his throat when she referred to the shop as hers, Anya was finally stopped mid-sentence when she took a proper look at the vampire herself.

"How did you-?" she began to ask, but Spike started backing away.

"I'll go," he said.

"Wait," Buffy told him, before turning to Anya. "How did he what?"

"He's got his so-"

Again she was cut off, but this time by a burst of green light appearing in the middle of the store. All of the supernatural activity detectors exploded at once and, when the smoke cleared, the gang found Tara standing among them, looking around.

 _To be continued..._


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

All of the supernatural activity detectors exploded at once and, when the smoke cleared, the gang found Tara standing among them, looking around.

There was silence as everyone stopped and stared back. Willow was the first to break it, though, as she burst into tears.

Through gasping sobs she said, "I'm sorry. Tara, baby, I'm so sorry!"

She then went to approach her, but Giles put out his hand to stop her.

"Are you real?" he questioned Tara's image.

Everyone stood stock still, and Willow forced herself to quiet, as they waited for an answer. Tara took a moment before hesitantly saying, "I'm me."

Again Willow tried to rush towards her, but again Giles stopped her.

"And what are you?" he continued.

She looked down, for a moment, as if summoning power from the floor, then raised her eyes to meet his again.

"I'm a higher power."

Willow fell the ground, her crying now uncontrollable.

"You're not real. You're not!" she yelled.

Buffy, who had watched all of this intently, now stepped further into the room and demanded some kind of explanation; whether from Giles or from Tara, she didn't care.

"You're not corporeal," said Giles to Tara.

"That's right," she confirmed.

"Not real!" Willow wailed again.

Buffy closed her eyes and furrowed her brow in frustration. It would take forever to figure out what was wrong if every sentence was interrupted by crying.

"Anya, could you take Willow to the back room?" she asked.

"No!" the witch climbed to her feet. "I'm staying."

Giles polished his glasses before deciding the way forward was to have everyone sit down and talk calmly, but he made a point of stating that everyone did not include Spike.

As crazy as it sounded, Buffy had almost forgotten about Spike. Him coming back had been a massive deal, but now it wasn't even on her radar. There were still big issues there, but she was content that they'd get to them and, in the meantime, he'd returned to being part of the furniture in her mind.

She was torn over whether to back Giles up and tell him to go, or if she should just say it was fine and put it off until later. But it was Tara that made her mind up for her.

"He has to stay," she said. "This concerns him."

"What concerns him?" asked Xander, who had so far just sat back and watched everything unfold.

"You've come to us with a message?" Giles hedged, and she nodded.

"The big trouble all the dials predicted!" exclaimed Anya.

Tara nodded again.

"There's a lot to explain, but there's not much time."

She looked at Willow as she said that part, and the witch took it as her cue to pull herself together. Taking a seat, she prepared herself for whatever she was about to hear.

Then, when nothing was forthcoming for a moment, she opened her mouth to ask a question, but before she could get the words past her lips, Tara preempted them by saying, "I'm not in any pain. I'm okay."

Willow nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Tara looked around the room once more, at all the people she'd left behind – her eyes lingering on Willow longer than everyone else. Her heart ached for the news that she had to tell, and for how it would devastate each of them.

"I suppose I should start with the basics. There's a demon on its way, from a different plane of existence. Earth isn't its destination, but it's got to go through here to get where it's going, and it'll tear up the planet in the process."

"Okay," said Buffy. "With you so far."

Despite addressing the comment to Tara, her eyes were locked on Dawn, who seemed to still be in shock. She was sitting in the corner, her face pale, and her eyes wide. Buffy mentally kicked herself when she realized why she was taking this current danger particularly badly.

"Can I help?" Dawn asked Tara, in a shaky voice. "Am I still the key? Can I close doors and stuff?"

There was a resounding "no" from Buffy, Spike, and Tara to that.

"It's not your battle," Tara told her, soothingly. "And hopefully it won't come to that."

"There's a way to stop the demon before he comes through?" asked Giles.

"Yes," Tara affirmed. This was the hard part. "To defeat the demon you must do it on its home plane."

"Okay," said Buffy, grabbing hold of a broadsword. "No problem. You can get me there?"

"No."

The Slayer frowned, then turned on her heal to face Willow. "You can-"

"No," Tara repeated, before the redhead could respond. Buffy whipped around to face her again.

"What is it?"

Despite being a higher being, Tara felt weak in that moment. She looked at the ground again.

"Only someone with a soul can make the journey." The words came out in almost a whisper, and they were met by silence.

Tara forced herself to look up once more, and caught sight of faces filled with incomprehension. Then Xander's broke in to a smile.

"You're joking, right? This is a joke."

"N-no."

Buffy was the next to shake free of her shock. She approached Tara and stared hard into her eyes.

"Who are you?"

"You know who I am."

"I don't believe it. This isn't a joke, it's a trick. A trap!"

"Buffy, I'm not lying to you."

"Then explain, and quickly." She had crossed her arms, and started to tap her foot.

"Why don't you take it easy, pet?" said Spike, putting a tentative hand on her shoulder, only for him to then flinch away at the touch himself, a moment later.

"Nobody asked you, evil undead," said Xander.

"I'm waiting," Buffy demanded, ignoring them both.

Tara took a gulp of unneeded air and then said, "Souls aren't like what you think they are. They don't change who you fundamentally are."

There was a snort from Spike – who everyone suddenly started shifting further away from – and there was more glaring from Buffy. She shook her head.

"You're wrong. You never saw Angelus. He-"

"Angel is different."

Spike rolled his eyes and muttered, "Always bloody is."

Buffy took a deep breath. "Look, can we discuss this all later? I have a demon to kill."

"You can't go through the portal to him," Tara reaffirmed.

"Okay, so, what? What are you suggesting? Send someone else?"

"There is only one who can."

The Slayer's fury was rising again.

"Who?" she ground out.

"Spike," said Tara.

 _To be continued..._


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Buffy blinked, opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish a few times as she did so.

"Spike's the only one who can do this?" she questioned Tara. "What are you talking about?!"

"The mission needs to be completed by someone with a soul, and… and he's the only one with one."

"Okay, now I _know_ this is a joke," Xander spoke up again, "Except it's not funny."

The anger had drained out of Buffy, and was replaced by shock again. She almost fell down under the weight of it.

"I don't understand."

"There's nothing to understand," Xander continued. "This is all bull."

"No, Xander," said Willow, softly. "That's really Tara. I can feel it. She wouldn't lie to us."

Dawn had a face full of tears as she asked, "I don't have a soul?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Tara answered her. "But like I said, souls are different than how we thought of them. They don't mean much here."

Buffy pulled herself together enough to make a small calculation. "They mean things in other places, though, right? That's why only someone with a soul can go after the demon."

Tara nodded, and everyone kind of accepted it. Except Xander, who wasn't done protesting.

"It doesn't make any sense," he said. "You mean Spike's the only one with both battle experience and a soul, right? Buffy's out, but the rest of us are fine, right? Right?!" Before Tara even had a chance to answer that question, he sank down into a chair and anxiously ran his hands through his hair, instead asking, "Why don't we have souls?" It was more of a panicked acceptance and a plea for help than a question, but Tara answered him anyway.

"You all did, at one point. Except…" she turned to Dawn. "You weren't made with one, I'm sorry. A-a-and Buffy never came back with one. It was one of the consequences of being resurrected. Th-the rest of you… you lost them." She hesitated again. This was the real kicker. "When you took lives."

She couldn't bring herself to look directly at any of them as she said it; instead focusing her attention on twisting her incorporeal fingers around themselves.

Tara wanted nothing more than to get away from the tension and grief in the room, to get on with working on the mission, but still Xander was throwing questions at her.

"But how come Spike has a soul? He's killed more than any of us."

"Not more than me," Anya interjected.

"Not helping," he shot back.

"Spike hasn't killed anyone since he got his soul back," Tara told them.

"Wait," said Buffy, pinching the bridge of her nose. "He got his soul back? When did that happen?" Again, she was addressing Tara, wholly unable to look at Spike as she was.

Tara worried her lip. It wasn't really her news to tell. As her hesitation continued, Xander opened his mouth again – probably to protest his innocence – but Buffy told him to shut up before he got any more words out.

"You said I didn't come back wrong," she accused – tears swimming behind her eyes.

"There's no way I could have known this," Tara replied. "And souls-"

"Don't mean much here. Yeah, you said. Then what are they? What do they mean?" Buffy's voice pitched at the end of each question, as she tried to stop herself from breaking down.

Tara, meanwhile, forced herself not to give into her discomfort and look away again, or to vanish back to her higher plane. "They mainly mean you can't cross planes. That you can't get into heaven."

Willow and Dawn gasped as Buffy let out a sharp cry at the news. Spike automatically went to hold the slayer, but she shoved him off and turned around to face her best friend, slapping her and screaming in her face.

"You ripped me out of there and now I can't go back!"

Willow was crying harder than ever. "Buffy, I'm sor-"

"Get the hell out of my sight!"

Xander tried to jump in and defend Willow, but his words died in his throat at the look Buffy gave him. So, instead, he tried to drag Willow from the place kicking and screaming. They were distracted by raised voices coming from behind them, however.

Buffy turned around once more, to face Tara again. She felt dizzy. Sick. And couldn't comprehend what she was seeing – Spike on his knees before Tara, tears streaming down his face as he begged her for something.

"Please, _please_!"

"I can't do it!" she told him.

"Please!" he insisted.

Thinking the worst of him, the Slayer hauled him up by the scruff of the neck and pushed him against the wall, away from her. "What are you doing?"

He hid his face and didn't answer, so again she looked to Tara.

"What is this?"

"He wanted me to take his soul and give it to you."

The room spun even faster. The sounds of crying came at her from every side, but one set of tearful whimpering called out to Buffy more than the rest. She needed to go into action, and push away all of her own feelings.

"Dawn, come here," she said, reaching out her hand and pulling her little sister close. "It'll be okay."

One thing done, Buffy's attention shifted to Willow. Her tone lost all emotion as she said, "I want you out of here. You have an hour to leave Sunnydale again or so help me."

Still holding Dawn tight, she refocused her attention – this time on Spike. Voice still cold, she told him, "Prepare to go after the demon."

Buffy could feel his eyes on her, wide with horror and sorrow, but she couldn't look back at him. She'd forgiven him for trying to rape her – almost as soon as he'd left her home, in fact – but this? This she really didn't think she could forgive at all.

When she wouldn't react to him beyond the command, he once more returned his pleas to Tara.

"There's nothing I can do," she told him again. "I can stay here, for a while, and explain more, but things stay as they are."

Spike opened his mouth once more, but Buffy held up her hand to silence him.

"Just go," she said, still not meeting his gaze. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him hang his head in acceptance of the mission. Tara took him aside, to explain the specifics of where he was going, and what he would need.

Dawn's arms were still wrapped around Buffy's waist, as her damp face rested against her shoulder.

"I'm going to get to the bottom of this, and I'm going to fix it," Buffy promised her.

 _To be continued..._


	4. Chapter Four

Author Note: Very sorry about the temporary hiatus there's been on this story.

Behold, more angst!

* * *

 _Previously:_ Dawn had her first day at the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High School, which ended with Buffy coming to rescue her and the both of them coming upon Spike in the basement. Giles and Willow returned from England, and Anya called everyone together for an emergency meeting after it became clear something bad was about to happen. Tara appeared at said meeting, as a messenger from the Powers That Be, to confirm that something evil was indeed on its way. She said that Spike had to go stop it – that he was the only one who could, because he's the only one with a soul. Now everything's in disarray as he prepares to set off on his mission to an alternative reality.

* * *

Chapter Four

The entire time Tara spent explaining the mission to Spike, he tried to pay attention to her, but his heart was rent in two at the knowledge that Buffy had taken another blow. Another massive blow.

She had no soul.

A callus part of himself whispered that it explained a lot, but he refused to believe it was true; would downright call out anyone who would dare say the Slayer was anything less than magnificent. Flawed, certainly, but never lacking in anything. Even so…

Spike blinked, his eyes refocusing on Tara. She was looking back at him, silently waiting. When had she stopped speaking? He searched his mind, but couldn't recall the last complete sentence he'd actually heard.

"I know this is a lot," she said.

Spike shook his head, ready to tell her that the magnitude of his task didn't bother him – wasn't even in his top ten list of concerns – but then he looked again at her expression, and realized that she, too, was thinking about Buffy.

 _Buffy. Buffy. Buffy._

She was the focal point of his existence, now. She was everything, yet had nothing left. What was the world going to take from her next? How could such a short life be so cruel?

* * *

Having just taken a still-weeping Willow to Xander's car and made the boy sit there with her, Giles re-entered the store and took Buffy aside, for a word.

He cleared his throat, and two sets of eyes looked up at him. Dawn had not let go of her sister.

"I think it's best we all meet up again, as soon as possible, to research the specifics of this… unique situation." The word he had wanted to use for the _unique situation_ was 'shit', but the watcher took control of himself.

Buffy didn't answer, but he hadn't really expected her to. Expectations truly were shitty things, he considered. He had expected to be welcomed back, for example. And he had anticipated some minimal awkwardness at the reintroduction of Willow to the group, but he'd also predicted it would soon be fixed.

Giles didn't want to be bitter, especially when he knew Buffy had things much worse than he did, but the truth was that whoever or whatever the Powers That Be were, he hated them. Having given it a lot of thought, his conclusion was that either they were negligent or they were not as all-powerful as you might expect. Either option left him disappointed beyond words.

* * *

Her mind still buzzing, Buffy hadn't really realized that Giles had left the store again until Tara had approached her and Dawn in his place.

She was offering to go into the back room with the girl, to answer any questions she had.

Buffy left the decision up to her, saying nothing as her eyes stayed locked onto the back of Spike's head, glaring a hole through it in the hopes of somehow activating his chip.

He looked around, then, and their eyes finally met. The Slayer cursed herself for that. Since leaving the school's basement, she'd vowed to herself not to look in those eyes again, convinced as she was that they were her weakness.

Vaguely aware of Dawn releasing her arm and following Tara out of her amended line of sight, Buffy now became acutely aware that she and Spike were the only two left in the room.

She approached him, at first appearing indifferent and then… _CRACK._ Her palm struck his right cheek.

Spike only closed his eyes in response, visibly bracing himself for another blow, but it didn't come.

After a few long moments, when the sound of their combined breathing got too much, his eyes opened again, but they remained downcast.

Buffy was staring a hole through him again but, for all she wanted to say, she couldn't begin to form words; couldn't trust herself to open her mouth.

Moments became minutes as they continued to stand in silence – Buffy not asking anything and Spike not explaining anything.

Good. She preferred it that way.

In a lot of ways, aside from his eyes, Spike's words were his best weapon against her. She could pretend he hadn't wounded her with them many times, but they both knew better. So, yeah, she was glad he was saying nothing. It was the only thing she could be glad about, given the circumstances, but she'd take it.

Honestly, Buffy didn't know how she could possibly hold together if Spike was to say even a single word – whether in his defense, or as an apology – it wouldn't matter.

Spike in his entirety was the Slayer's true weakness. It started with his eyes, and his words, and ended with his hands. His touch. Now his soul, she supposed.

Buffy gave a violent shiver at the thought, and it was at this that he finally opened his mouth.

"Don't," she ordered.

His jaw snapped shut again.

"Go do the mission," Buffy continued. "The mission is what matters."

When he gave a solemn nod, she felt anger rise up in her again. He was supposed to be a warrior. Being all sad and sorrowful wasn't going to defeat anything, and there was no way she was going to let a demon tear through a world with Dawn in it. She was not going to let her sister be in that kind of danger ever again.

Resolute in this, Buffy knew she needed to say more. Despite every fiber of her being telling her to run from the Vampire in the hope of never seeing him again, she needed to provoke him into giving the mission his best shot.

"You promised me," she reminded him, "To protect Dawn."

Catching his eye one final time, Buffy added, "Don't let me down again."

She knew it was the most damning thing she could say to him. Yes, she knew exactly how to hurt him the most. As much as he was her weakness, she was his.

Pain and rage flared in his eyes as he looked back at her, and she could tell that her words had worked; that he knew exactly what she was doing.

It was only as he walked away from her that a sudden fear gripped her, that maybe it was the last time she'd ever get to see those eyes.

 _To be continued..._


End file.
